1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the detection and removal of dust in electronic systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Airflow is commonly used to remove heat generated by components within a computer. For example, an individual PC typically includes one or more on-board cooling fans enclosed within the housing to cool the processors, power supply, memory, and other internal components. In more expansive computer systems, such as rack-based blade computer systems having multiple servers, one or more blower modules are supported on a multi-server chassis to generate airflow through the servers and other components. Despite efforts to keep a computer center clean and filter dust out of the air, the airflow used to cool a computer carries some amount of dust, which accumulates over time on internal components of the computer. The electrostatic charge generated by some components can even attract dust to those components, thereby increasing the amount and rate of dust deposited.
Unfortunately, the accumulation of dust in a computer system can cause problems. Excessive dust build-up can reduce system performance, increase the rate at which components fail, and reduce overall system reliability. Dust can also interfere with operation of moving parts, such as fan blades and mechanical connectors, and reduce the reliability of electrical components, such as by collecting between electrical contacts in electrical connectors. Dust can even give off an unpleasant odor when heated through contact with hot components.
The amount of dust that accumulates in a hardware device is typically not apparent without removing it and opening it up. Manually inspecting hardware for dust is inefficient, usually necessitating the removal of the hardware from the chassis. In many cases, the system must be off line for a person to physically disassemble and clean out the system. An improved dust detection system and method are therefore needed. Improvements in the speed and ease of detecting dust accumulation would be especially desirable in larger computer systems such as rack systems having numerous servers and other hardware components. It would be particularly desirable to have a system and method that would automatically detect the accumulation of dust.